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Wednesday, January 27, 2010

The Trouble With Fences or Gate Expectations

It's January and the wisteria is bare. This is a good thing right now as a problem has been detected. Most of the fence that supports the wisteria was replaced a few years ago. However, it has since wandered into old fence territory and the thing most feared by wooden fence owners has occurred. Three, if not four, of the fence posts from the end of the new fence section to the corner where the side yard gates hang have been found to be rotted. So once again I have had to decide how far back I need to cut one of my favorite garden plants. It's no use mourning the lost blooms...work need to be done and it needs to be done soon. Here you see the section of fence that will be worked on. Just before dark I pruned about 15 feet off the end of the vine. Tomorrow I will have another look and see if that will be sufficient. I think with looping back about 10 additional feet of vine my trusted fence repair expert will be able to maneuver.The good news in this situation is that a long standing problem will be fixed at the time of the fence repair. Some years ago my father built a wonderful cupboard for me along the side of my garage. It serves as a storage spot for garden tools and all sorts of garden related objects...netting, yogurt containers for snail patrol, seed starting equipment, stakes, sprinkler repair parts, etc, etc. The down side of the cupboard addition was that I could no longer open the gate all the way. And with the other gate blocked by firewood storage I have found myself running a bit of an obstacle course getting the wheelbarrow in and out of the back yard. It gets old after the tenth trip on a hot Saturday afternoon. However, after that fence repair expert finishes his transformation there will be one gate opening in the middle of the side yard. And it will open all the way!